Equivalent Salaries in Five Australian Capital Cities

Over the last decade, the spatial or geographical nature of social and economic indices has proliferated. It is well understood that there are geographical variations in prices, particularly housing prices. What we do not know is relative wages – that is, given a wage in one place, what is the wage to attain the same standard of living in another place. Utilising recent budget standard research, this paper calculates relative salaries for Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. It is found that in 2006 households in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth respectively require on average 24%, 7% and 4% more private income than equivalent Brisbane households to achieve the same standard of living, whereas Adelaide residents require 7% less private income than Brisbane residents. Changes in these relativities from 2003 to 2006 are examined. The public policy responses to such findings are also discussed

Demographic economics · Economics · Geography · Labour economics · Living wage · Political science · Project commissioning · Publishing · Standard of living · Wage · Housing Market and Economics · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

• Area-based Urban Interventions

  Open Access•Paul Lawless•Urban Studies•2006

  Add to list

• Estimating the Cost of Contact for Non-resident Parents

  Open Access•Paul Henman, Kyle Mitchell et al.•Journal of Social Policy•2001

  Add to list